Machine for ornamenting leather



rTs STATES PATENT OFFICE.

O. T. OODMAN, OF BOSTON, yMASSAACHUSETTS.

MACHINE FOR ORNAMENTING LEATHER.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 42, 136, dated March 29, 186i.

same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification,

in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation; Fig. 2, a perspective view, and Fig. 3, a perspective view (full size) of the pebblingroller removed from the machine and resting on a strip of leather, t.

Like parts are indicated by the same letters in a`1 the drawings. l

What is known as a"boarded7 or pebbled 7 grain or finish has hitherto been given to leather by what is called the boarding operation, which consists in doubling the skin over onto itself on a table, so that the esh side shall be out, and then forcing or rucking one part over the other in different directions by means of a flat cork-board, Which breaks or wrinkles the grain, and gives it a rough, checkered, or pebbled appearance. This operation is performed by hand, and is very slow and laborious, and produces only one particular kind of finish.

The nature of my invention therefore consists in producing this pebbled or boarded grain or finish on leather by subjecting it to the pressure of a short revolving cylinder or roller, of steel or other suitable metal,hav ing the required design or figure engraved or sunk in its periphery.

My improvement further consists in combinin g with said roller a certain new and use` ful combination of mechanical devices for carrying my invention into practical operation, so as to accomplish the object desired with great rapidity and cheapness.

Z (a full-sized perspective view of which is shown in Fig. 3) is a roller, about two inches in diameter and three inches in length. This roller may be made of any suitable metal, though steel is the best, as it may be rendered very hard by tempering. In the periphery of the roller is engraved or sunk any style of gure, either such as to produce on leather the pebbled surface made by the usual method of boarding, or any other fancy figure that may be required.

Owing to the varying thickness of diiferent parts of a skin, the roller .Z should not be more than from three to live inches in length, or else it would fa-il to bearA sufficiently hard upon the thinner port-ions. l

It'is obvious that my pebbled roller may be combined with various mechanical devices whereby it can be rolled With suficient pressure over a skin or piece of leather. I will, however, no w describe a combination of devices which 'I nd to answer every purpo e required.v

C may represent a wooden platform or the floor of a room, and F may be either the top of a frame, supported by the three uprights G'H and G', or it may be the top or ceiling of a room.

A is a wooden table, about four feet and six inches long and iive inches wide, the two ends of which slide up and down freely in vertical slots in the uprights G and H, as shown in Fig. l. The upper surface of this table, on which the leather to be boarded or pebbled is placed, is the are of a circle whose center is at J, at the top of the pendulum I. This table, when the roller Z is going back over it, is lowered, and rests on three strips of rubber, W W W, placed upon the stationary beam B, the extremities of which are framed into the uprights Gr and H. The rubber strips W are also designed to prevent noise and jar when the table descends.

' Q Q Q Q are two sets of toggle arms, the contiguous ends of which are connected by pivots e e in the forked ends of the connecting-arm It, as shown in Figs. l and 2, the uplper ends of the top arms being pivoted at d d to slotted cleats y y, attached to the bottom of the table A. The two upper arms also pass through slots in the beam B, as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 1. The two lower arms are attached to pivots f j' in the slotted cleats X X, which are fast to the frame-beam V.

When these toggle-arms are perpendicular,

the table A will be elevated, so that the roller Z will rest upon it.

S is an arm, of wood or iron, one end of which is pivoted at l to the arm R, and the other at k to the slotted cleat j, which, as shown in Fig. l, is fast to the vibrating arm T, the lower end of which is pivoted at u to the slotted cleat e.

U is an india-rubber or other suitable spring, one extremity of which is attached to the staple i in the upright H, and the other to the staple h in the arm S, the object of said spring being to instantly lower the table A, through the intervention of the arm S, whenever the top of arm T is not acted upon by the earn l? on the periphery of the fly-wheel O, which turns on suitable bearings `in the upright G.

I is a pendent arm, thelength of which may vary, according to circumstances, from four or six feet to any length which the room or building in which the machine is placed may allow. The longer it is the straighter and better will be the top of the table A. The pendulum I swings freely on the pivotJ at the top, its lower end being provided on each side with iron strips K K, as shown in Fig. 2.

D is a wooden arm, the front end of which passes between the strips K K, and is connected with them by the pivot a, the back end of D being connected with the ily-wheel O by means ofpin c, as shown in Fig. 1.

L is a flat strip of metal, as wide as the top of the arm D, and provided on its under side with two ears, w w, between which the roller Z is placed and in which revolve its journals b b.

E E are compressible rubber springs, through whose centers pass the headed bolts g g, which, entering the piece L, keep it in place. As the bolts g g pass freely through holes in D, the piece L and roller Z will of course rise as the springs E E are compressed.

M is a connecting-rod, one end of which is pivoted to L at m, the other being fast to the stud Nin the rear of the arm D. Thus it is obvious that the roller Z will bear upon the table A during one half of its orbit, and be raised above it, as in the drawings, during the other half, and that the leather, being placed upon the table A and moved along by an attendant as `fast as required, will be boarded or pebbled with great rapidity, cheapness, and in a superior manner.

I do not claim embossing by means of two or more cylinders workin g together; but

What I do claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. Boarding or pebbling skins or leather by means ot' a single short cylinder rolling over a table with the requisite pressure, substantially as described.

2. Raising and lowering the table A by means of the toggles Q, arm S, spring'U, arm T, and cam l, or their equivalents, substantially as set forth, and for the purpose described.

C. T. VVOODMAN, 

